You can tell how CNN's State of the Union producers feel about race relations when they book the ultimate personification of white male privilege Newt Gingrich to opine. Newt's judgment on the African American protests: Sure, they're loud and indecorous, such as Rep. Bobby Rush's wearing a hoodie on the House floor, but what have they done to stop gang violence in their neighborhoods?:

“I respect Bobby Rush,” Gingrich said. “[But] you have a congressman who represents the most violent city in America. You have a congressman who represents the city in which over 500 people were killed last year, 74% of them African-American. You have a congressman who represents the city which is 80% of the killings, according to police, are by gangs. Gangs have increased by forty percent since this president was elected. There is no federal program to stop it. No one wants to have an honest conversation about it. And so you have a congressman whose own district is bleeding, who puts on a hoodie as a symbolic act, but he doesn’t do anything about the gangs in his own district.”

Never mind that gang violence has little to nothing to do with Stand Your Ground (aka Kill At Will) laws. Never mind that Chicago is actually not one of the most violent cities in America. Never mind that Gingrich conveniently forgets all the legislation he worked on and championed to restrict assistance to people in lower economic brackets. Never mind that a single federal representative can only do so much without support from a majority of his colleagues in passing legislation. Never mind that any legislation that Rep. Rush would write would end up being more of the federal government intrusion that Gingrich bewails. Damnit, those angry black people should just ignore instutional racism, profiling, poverty and all the other obstacles they face and stop killing each other and then white people won't need to shoot them for walking home from the convenience store.